Scorched

by Jennifer Armentrout

  Man, I needed to get control of my head. And my cock. Especially my cock, because if she looked down between us, there’d be no hiding how aroused I was, and that put the dic in “fucking ridiculous.”

  Searching for something to take my mind off the hard-on of a lifetime, I cleared my throat. “So what makes you volunteer at a hotline like that?”

  She tilted her head to the side. “I…I don’t know. I guess…” Trailing off, she sighed. Several seconds passed while it seemed like she searched for the right thing to say. “Those people, you know, they’re just like you and me. They’ve hit a rough patch in their lives and most of them just want someone to talk to—someone to listen to them. Actually hear them. I can do that.”

  Instinct told me there was more to it. “Still has to be hard.”

  “It can be,” she said quietly, squinting as the sun peeked out. “I’ve had a couple of calls where the people wanted to talk, and you think it’s going to be a normal call, but then you realize that they’ve already taken pills or something like that. Those…those are hard,” she admitted. “We really don’t know what happens to them. If the police got there soon enough—if they are even alive right now. If they tried again or if they found someone else to hear them. So, yeah, that part is hard, but their world? Those people calling? Their world is a lot harder than whatever I deal with when I answer those phones.”

  Working at the fire department meant I saw a lot of terrible shit. Car accidents. Burn victims. Floaters in the river. And sometimes we were called in when the police or EMTs couldn’t get through a door. Found a lot of OD victims that way.

  “So why aren’t you going into psychology?” Curiosity consumed me. “Seems like you might have found your calling.”

  She smiled a little. “I don’t know if I have the empathy to pull that off every day of the week for the next forty years. Syd does. I don’t.”

  I wasn’t so sure about that.

  “What about you?” she asked. “Why do you want to be a cop? You seem to like doing the fireman thing.”

  My lips curled up on one side. “It’s what I’ve always wanted to be.”

  “Because of your father?”

  Surprise shuttled through me. I’d had no idea she knew that my father was a cop. Had to have been Kyler. “Yeah, but not the reasons you’re probably thinking.”

  She twisted toward me, her thigh glancing off mine. “What do you mean?”

  My father was the last person I wanted to talk about, but I found myself running my mouth anyway. “Walter—my father—was a shit husband and dad, but he was even more of a shit cop.”

  Andrea blinked, obviously taken aback.

  I laughed under my breath and looked away, casting my gaze to the woods surrounding the pool. “He couldn’t keep his dick in his pants and he couldn’t keep his nose clean, you know what I mean? He’d let people slide if they could do things for him, like cut him deals on shit. Not drugs and that kind of shit, but you’d be surprised by what people will do to get out of tickets. When I was younger, I didn’t get why my mom cried all the time or why my dad didn’t always come home after his shifts. I didn’t get that he was a bad cop, probably wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for his partner. She was the one who showed me what it was like to be a cop, to respect that uniform and your role in society. I have no idea how she dealt with my father as long as she did—or how my mom did—but because of her I knew I wanted to be a cop.” I took a breath, feeling the tops of my ears burn. “Anyway, I guess I wanted to be one because I could somehow make up for how shitty my father was at it.”

  “Wow,” she said, placing her sun-warmed hand on my shoulder. “I didn’t know any of that.”

  My gaze fell to where her small hand rested. Such an elegant and graceful hand, one that could’ve wielded a scalpel artfully, just hopefully not to my heart.

  Heart?

  Why in the fuck was I thinking about my heart and her cutting into shit?

  And I was still hard.

  Her hand slid down to my forearm. When she reached my wrist, she squeezed gently. “You know, you don’t have to make up for how lousy he was.”

  “I know.” My voice was rougher, abrasive.

  Her slight smile grew. “But you’ll make an excellent cop. You’re a good guy. Most of the time,” she teased.

  I wasn’t having good-guy thoughts right then. Nope. Not at all. I couldn’t help it. I had to touch her. I needed to, and my control thinned and then snapped. So I did.

  Andrea

  I saw the change in him immediately. Those baby blues darkened to azure, and I stilled, barely breathing. Part of me wanted to dive underwater, but that was such a small part. The rest didn’t want to move.

  My heart skipped as Tanner moved, but it wasn’t closer to me. He pushed away from the ledge. But before I could feel a second of disappointment, he shifted so that he was behind me, his forearms resting on either side of mine on the pool ledge.

  I sucked in air as I tensed, keeping the front of my body against the slippery side of the pool. What in the world was he doing? My imagination fed me a ton of naughty images as the clouds darkened over us again.

  His breath was warm on my shoulder as he spoke. “Can I tell you something?”

  Closing my eyes, I nodded. “Sure.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t want to go hiking. I like having you all to myself.” He moved one hand off the ledge and it landed on the bare skin of my side, underwater. I jerked back and came into contact with his large body. I didn’t move. Not even when his chest rose sharply against my back. “Are you?”

  All thoughts scattered when his hand slid to my hip. The small stretch of material did nothing to block the feel of the rough callouses on his palm.

  “Andy?”

  My breath stuttered. “Yeah…yes.”

  “That makes me happy to hear.” His hand drifted off my hip, over my belly, stopping just above my navel. I didn’t even have a chance to think about sucking in my stomach. My mind was blown by the touch and my arms shook. “Are you okay with this?” he asked as he flattened his hand.

  I could barely get the words out. “Okay with what?”

  “With this.” He leaned into me. His entire front pressed against my back as he used his hand against my stomach to hold me in place. Against my lower back, I could feel the hard length of him, and my blood trilled through my veins. “You feel me and you’re okay with that?”

  Lust blurred my thoughts, mingling with confusion. While my body was a hundred percent on board—hell, it was on a train that had already left the station—I didn’t understand why he wanted this—wanted me now. But I wasn’t sure if that mattered—if the past really had any place in the here and now. And when had I ever really stopped to think about anything? Obviously not often.

  He skimmed his hand up my side, and the answering shivers radiated throughout my body. “Andy?”

  Normally, I hated it when he called me that, but right then, he could pretty much have called me anything, and I’d have been okay with it, especially with his hand so close to my breast. “I feel you,” I whispered. “I’m…okay with that.”

  He made a deep, raw sound, and I thought I felt his lips brush my shoulder. “Thank. God.” His hand stopped just below the swell of my breast. “Because if you’d said no, I think I might have cried.”

  My lips twitched. “Seems a bit extreme.”

  “You have no idea how badly I’ve wanted to touch you. Actually, I don’t even think I had any idea,” he mused. Then his hand was over my breast. “No idea.”

  I arched my back as a moan escaped me. “Oh God…”

  His hips pressed against me, and I thought for a moment I’d slip right under the water. A tempest of sensations rose swiftly, like the summer storm brewing over our heads. His hand closed over my breast, gently kneading. “What I’d give to see them,” he said, his thumb swiping over the crest of my covered breast. “But that’ll have to wait.”

  I didn’t want to wait.
r />   But I didn’t have to.

  With incredibly nimble fingers, he slipped them under the cup of my bikini top. Heat exploded as the tips of my breasts tightened to the point of pain and my body sparked alive. My nipples had never been that sensitive before. Normally, I could do without them being touched, but now?

  My hips rocked back against his as a jolt of pleasure moved from my breast and then straight down my belly. “Tanner.”

  “Fuck. I like it when you say my name like that.” His mouth touched a spot below my ear as he caught my nipple between his fingers.

  I cried out, stunned at the fierceness of the sensation pounding through me. My chest ached, felt swollen with need. His lips moved over my neck, trailing hot and wet kisses to my shoulder as he continued to touch me.

  My chin fell and I opened my eyes. In a pleasured haze, I stared at his hand. He’d tugged the cups of my top down and my breasts were exposed, above water but blocked by the side of the pool. In reality, Syd and Kyler could return at any moment, but I didn’t want to tell him to stop.

  “I couldn’t wait. Fucking beautiful,” he said, kissing my neck, and I knew the moment he’d lifted his head and stared over my shoulder. “Jesus. They are perfect.”

  Sometimes I was insecure about the size of my breasts. Syd hadn’t understood why, and time and time again, she’d told me that she wished she had what I did, but with bigger breasts came bigger problems. They weren’t perky like smaller ones. Bluish veins were visible on the sides. The skin puckered and did weird shit sometimes. But the way he touched me was reverent, and with the combination of his fingers and the water teasing the tips, my insecurities were quickly floating away.

  Tanner murmured something against my neck and then his hand left my breast, gliding down my stomach. When the tips of his fingers reached the band on my bottoms, I held my breath, and those tiny kisses picked back up along my neck, scorching me.

  He waited. “What do you want?”

  Oh God. That was all I could think. Over and over. Oh God. Then I wasn’t thinking as his hand moved over my bottoms, between my thighs. His fingers played over the material, causing me to jerk against the arm he used to hold himself afloat.

  “What do you want, Andrea?” he asked again, voice husky.

  “Please,” I whispered, and I wasn’t even sure what I was asking for, but my body moved, seeking relief from the torment he was creating.

  He cursed again and then his hand was slipping under the thin material of the bikini bottom. As he kissed my jaw, he touched me—really touched me. He cupped me with his longer fingers. “You’re so warm,” he said. “So hot.”

  Oh my God, he was doing it…right here, in this pool, and in broad daylight. This was really happening. Hadn’t I just told him yesterday he had no chance of getting laid? Boy, I really hadn’t put up much of a fight, but I wanted him—had wanted him for so very long, and I didn’t want to think about all the nothing that came after this.

  I’d never been more turned on in my life.

  I didn’t have a chance to say any of that. His thumb pressed down on the bundle of nerves, and I cried out his name, trembling as startling pleasure rose violently. He didn’t even get a finger in me, didn’t even try. He worked with pressure as his other finger skimmed my center.

  “Andrea.” His voice was raw, primitive in my ear. My hips moved against his hand almost frantically, and I whimpered, so close to release. “That’s it. Let go.”

  I did.

  I let go. Every muscle in my body tightened and then the release whipped through me so quickly I was left breathless and dizzy, spinning me into the kind of freedom a bottle could never give me. My arms turned to mush, and I would’ve slipped right under the water if it hadn’t been for Tanner pushing his body against mine, wedging me against the side of the pool.

  My head fell back against his shoulder, my breathing rapid as his thumb slowed against me. I don’t even know how much time passed before he slipped his hand out of my bikini bottom, but I could feel him against me, still so hard and practically burning. He fixed my top without saying anything, his hand lingering in the most delicious way.

  “You,” I said hoarsely, wetting my lips. “What about you?”

  He pulled back just enough that he was able to turn me in his arms. Thrown off, I gripped his shoulders. My eyes met his and held. A heartbeat passed as he stared down at me. Our legs tangled and then he pressed in between mine. I felt him, right against my core. A strange sound rose from the depths of me, part moan and part yearning.

  “Me?” He lowered his forehead to mine. His hips did this remarkable and downright sinful roll. “I can—”

  Sharp bright light cut through the sky above us, wrangling a gasp out of me. Tanner’s grip tightened, and a moment later thunder boomed so loudly it felt like it rattled my bones.

  “Oh my God,” I said, eyes wide.

  Tanner was already turning me around, lifting me with one arm, which was freaking impressive. “We need to get out of the pool before we’re fried.”

  I so was not going to dispute that.

  We scrambled out of the pool, and I stopped to grab my dress just as the sky ripped open and cold rain pounded down, causing me to shriek. Tanner laughed as he grabbed my arm, dragging me over the deck as our feet slipped in the rapidly gathering puddles.

  Neither of us said anything as we stared at each other in the chilled air of the house, soaking and dripping wet, but there was nothing that needed to be said. The truth lay in the open between us.

  Everything had changed.

  Chapter 9

  Tanner

  We stared at each other as the thunderstorm raged outside, the thunder cracking so loud it rattled the windows. The storm mirrored what I felt inside. My fingers still tingled from where I’d touched her, and her cheeks were flushed, eyes still shining with bliss.

  Dammit, I was harder than a rock.

  I wanted to go to her, but she stumbled a step back and hastily drew the dress on over her head. Once she had it situated, she swallowed hard as she looked out the windows. Rain pounded the deck. “God,” she said, voice scratchy. “Syd and Kyler are out there in this.”

  “They’ll be okay. Kyler will make sure of that.”

  She cast me a quick look over her shoulder. The passion had faded from her gaze, replaced by a keen wariness. “So will Syd. She can take care of herself.”

  “I didn’t say that she couldn’t.” I scrubbed my hands through my wet hair and then grabbed a towel that had been left on the back of a bar stool. I soaked up as much water as I could and then dropped the towel on the puddle I’d created. The dress Andrea wore was soaking up the wetness and clinging to her curves in a way that made my mouth water, but she had checked out of the fun and naughty stuff.

  I didn’t blame her. I hadn’t planned on that happening. Okay. Maybe I’d planned on kissing her, but I hadn’t expected it to go that far, especially when we hadn’t even kissed. Now I had no idea what she was thinking as she turned around, her gaze bouncing off mine.

  “I think I’m going to go nap,” she said, not meeting my gaze.

  My chest tightened. “Andrea, what happened—”

  “It’s okay. I mean, it was great.” Her cheeks flushed as she edged around the island, steering clear of me. “We don’t have to talk about it or anything.”

  I frowned as I tracked her across the kitchen. “But I want to talk about it.”

  She neared the living room and the stairwell. “No guy wants to talk about that…whatever that is. I don’t have crazy expectations, so you don’t need to set me straight or anything like that.”

  My mouth flopped open. “What?”

  Her face matched her hair. “I know that what happened doesn’t mean anything. I know it doesn’t—”

  “Excuse me?” My voice rose as irritation flooded me. “It didn’t mean anything?”

  Confusion pinched her pretty face as she stopped at the bottom of the stairs. “Did it?”

 
Did it? Holy fuck, I stared at her, and the only good thing I could think at that moment was the fact that I no longer had a raging, rock-hard boner. “Of course not,” I snapped.

  Andrea flinched—fucking flinched like I’d hurt her feelings or some shit. She nodded jerkily and then turned, racing up the steps in her bare feet. I stepped forward, partly worried she was going to fall and break her neck and also to run after her.

  But I stopped myself, knowing I was too damn angry to have a normal conversation that wouldn’t end in us screaming at each other. Whirling from the stairs, I stalked back into the kitchen, stopping at the glass doors with my hands on my hips.

  What the fuck? That didn’t mean anything? What did she think I did? Went around randomly getting chicks off for shits and giggles? Well, actually, she probably did think that.

  “Shit,” I groaned, dipping my chin.

  Based on what she knew about me—what she’d seen from hanging out with me—I was an equal opportunity fucker. Hell, why would she think she was any different than the slew of girls that had come before? But she was different, and damn she had to know that. I wouldn’t just fuck around with a friend of Sydney’s. That was obvious, because if that was the case, I would’ve tried to get between those pretty thighs the first time she’d mouthed off at me.

  I heard the front door open and I turned, spying Kyler and Sydney. They looked like they’d swum in a river to get there, but both were smiling.

  “Holy shit,” Kyler said, dropping his backpack by the glass door. Laughing, he shook the rain out of his hair. Droplets of water flew in every direction. “That storm is crazy.”

  “Yeah,” I murmured, heading to the fridge. “It came out of nowhere.”

  Sydney moved to the sink, where she wrung her hair out. “We checked the weather. Wasn’t calling for anything until this evening.”

  “We didn’t even get far,” Kyler complained. “As soon as we saw those clouds rolling in, we started to head back.”